Page 1 of 1

Win10 / Kali / Alfa AWUS036NH USB passthru not working

Posted: 7. Feb 2016, 20:18
by LoveTheRaiin
Am running VB on Win10. Kali as a guest works fine, except when I add an Alfa AWUS036NH USB wifi adapter, the behaviour within Kali is very flakey. Flashes red/green/red/green... never connects properly. Partially works then gives errors.

Has anyone gotten a USB wifi adapter to work under VB 5.0.14 with Kali as a guest, on Windows 10?

Re: Win10 / Kali / Alfa AWUS036NH USB passthru not working

Posted: 8. Feb 2016, 03:53
by LoveTheRaiin
This is resolved, I had to use the USB 3.0 controller. USB 2.0 worked for a wireless mouse I have been using for awhile, so I thought nothing of it. But the USB wireless adapter only works with the USB 3.0 controller.

Re: Win10 / Kali / Alfa AWUS036NH USB passthru not working

Posted: 9. Feb 2016, 08:03
by LoveTheRaiin
Oh never mind, It does not work tonight. It worked once then stopped working I can add the usb device, I can see it, and ifconfig can see wlan0. But it does not seem to be able to scan. The USB indicator flashes red, red, red; never goes red, green, red, green like it did last night.

Re: Win10 / Kali / Alfa AWUS036NH USB passthru **SOLVED**

Posted: 10. Feb 2016, 15:43
by LoveTheRaiin
This is finally fixed, for anyone with this problem.

It works for me every time now. I had problems from installing the original ISO drivers and a nex update on the Alfa web site, so I removed both drivers and all the install directories and cleaned up the registry so I had a clean install of the drivers, with no red herrings to chase. It worked properly the first time after installing the drivers, but not subsequent times, so I was thinking that something was being left in a bad state. It doesn't bother Windows as it always works there, but it bothers Kali thru VB. Windows reboots did not clear it, something was being persisted. So a bit of searching with better keywords this time I found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1ETBeRQBs4

Following some key recommendations in this video, it works every time. I think the key is that you shutdown Kali with the adapter attached, and then you *must* eject the USB device from Windows. Once Kali is down, with the adapter still plugged in to the USB port, and Windows has control again, the icon to eject it will appear in the notification area in the system tray. This makes total sense - if you do not do this the adapter is left in a bad state, and its state is persisted - rebooting Windows does not clear it.

Other things this video recommends may also be a factor:

1. Configure the VM to start with a USB device filter - don't add the one that appears on the menu, create your own more general fiter, specifying only the vendor ID (148F) and product ID (3070 for my model). [I doubt this is mandatory, you can probably add the device that appears with the full set of filter fields, but I'm not messing around to try this.]

2. Start the VM with the adapter unattached. Once it is up and running attach the adapter. I see the USB indicator turn green almost immediately.

3. When done, shut down the VM with the adapter still connected, so that when Kali relinquishes control Windows takes it and gives you the eject option for the device in the notification area, and *do not forget to eject the USB device from Windows*. Otherwise next time it will be in a bad state.

This has worked four times in a row. Time for bed, finally a good nights sleep, not staying awake trying to debug this. :D